


Where the Compass Fell

by voleuse



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-10-29
Updated: 2006-10-29
Packaged: 2017-10-04 06:13:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Bullets in slow-motion mapping the hunter's arc.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Where the Compass Fell

**Author's Note:**

> Set during BtVS S5/Ats S2. Title and summary adapted from Timothy Liu's _Winter_.

The number in Willow's address book has been scratched out, then rewritten a few times. _Angel Investigations_. Xander knows, vaguely, that they've had to move. He's never been there himself, never tried to call. He's never thought they would need any of the Los Angeles crew.

But he knows exactly where the number is in Willow's address book. If he closes his eyes, he can picture it, the curlicue and scrawl of blue ink.

One morning, after a marathon research session, Xander leans against his kitchen wall. He picks up his phone, and he dials.

No one picks up that first time.

That afternoon, Xander calls again.

*

 

Wesley picks up the phone on the third ring, and it takes Xander a moment to adjust.

"Hello?" Wesley asks to the silence, three long seconds after his first, professionally-toned greeting.

Xander coughs, then jumps in. "Sorry. I was expecting Cordelia."

"Xander?" Another second, fumbling against the earpiece. "I think she's gone to an audition, but I could take a message."

"It's no problem," Xander says. "Well, yeah. I'd like that. But I was calling for you."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Xander taps at his kitchen counter, next to his notebook from the night before. "Giles said you were the go-to guy for Sumerian. _A_ go-to guy, anyway. Maybe not _the_."

"I'm sorry?" Wesley's shuffling something on the other end. "I don't quite understand."

"We were doing research last night, and I found something." There's a word scribbled in another language in Xander's notebook. He underlines it twice. "After I read it out loud, it disappeared."

"Ah." It sounds like Wesley's smiling, now. "I've heard there are some tomes that resist profligate dissemination."

"If that means what I think it means, yeah." Xander taps the word again. "Giles said that's what it was, too."

"Unfortunately, I doubt I'm familiar with your particular text."

"I remember it," Xander interrupts. "I can see it. I just can't understand it."

"I see." Wesley exhales. "Can you drive down to Los Angeles?"

"It's no rush, really." Xander drums his fingers against the notebook. "But yeah. I think I will."

*

 

They meet at a rickety diner, Wesley's brief explanation in regards to the actual agency involving the words "demons" and "oozing guts." Xander pokes at his hash browns and finds his appetite still surprisingly healthy.

While Wesley nurses a tepid cup of tea, Xander flips through his notebook and points out what he's been able to recapture. Stapled to the sheet is a photo of the book's spine, taken as part of Miss Calendar's archiving project, years back.

Giles said the book had been labeled back then. The words had faded from the photograph, too.

Wesley surveys the information and frowns. "You never should have read this aloud."

"So I've been told." Xander takes a second to swig his coffee. "At least this time I didn't set the book on fire." Wesley looks askance at the comment, and Xander shrugs. "I've matured."

Wesley laughs into his tea, then traces Xander's scribblings with his fingers. Slowly, like a caress. "Hm."

Xander leans back in his bench, and already he feels relieved. But he asks the question anyway.

"Can you help me?"

Wesley looks up at him, finally, and grins.

"It would be a pleasure."


End file.
